Barbara Cartland

Born in 1901 to middle class parents, Barbara Cartland would lose her father on Flanders Fields in World War I, and her two brothers, just a day apart, in World War II. Her enterprising mother opened a dress shop and Barbara attended a girls' college, then found some success as a society writer and eventually, as a writer of romantic fiction. In her earlier days she was famous for her beauty and dashing soirees, and at the time her novels were considered quite risque. She married twice, though it is believed her first marriage engagement was cancelled after she discovered the grisly 'facts of life'! She championed various charitable causes such as St John's and the World College and was elected, on the Conservastive ticket, to Hertfordshire County Coucil. In 1991 she received an OBE from the Queen, and she died, just shy of her 99th birthday, in May of 2000. "As long as the plots keep arriving from outer space, I'll go on with my virgins" - Barbara Cartland